Pawprints
by Prince-Charmless
Summary: She recalls that day, 10 years ago, from which she stepped away from the life of a shifter and into the world of a human. Many new things to see, to experience, to feel. Ten years have passed, and she still is slowly coming upon these things. And this doesn't change when the girl that she saved ten years ago reappears within her life. Full summary inside. (Pricefield, Shifter!AU)
1. Prologue

**A/N: Heyoo, Caeden here with my first multi-chapter story on this account. I recently finished playing Life Is Strange - and let me tell you - it is easily up there on my top 3 list. But anyway, I have to say, I absolutely love Pricefield, and I could not resist doing some of my own. A quick note; this is my first time with LIS characters, so I apologize in advance if they seem a little OOC. I promise that I'll try to stick in character with them as much as a can!**

 **Full summary:  
** **She still remembers that day, 10 years ago, from which she stepped away from the life of a shifter and into the world of a human. Many new things to see, to experience, to feel, to love. And though 10 years has passed, she still is slowly coming upon these things. And this doesn't change when the girl that she saved ten years ago reappears within her life. Only, she's changed, broken, and Max decides that she wants to help pick up the pieces.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy the read!**

The shifters and the humans have been at war for as long as man can remember. A constant clash between those who walked with the wolves, and those who were destined to remain human.

As time advanced, and the world slowly embraced modernization, some of the shifter population believed that the war was pointless, and began to blend into human society, starting a life of their own.

While some shifters and humans remained clashing, in a battle that seems as if it is never going to end.

 _10 years ago_

The sun hung dangerously low in the sky, the normally blue backsplash now a blend of soft pinks, purples, oranges, and many other appealing colors mixed together. A chill was present in the air, and the ground was covered in a thin sheet of snow.

A father and his daughter were currently huddled around a fire, laughter echoing throughout the small clearing within the forest they were currently in. Behind them, a tent was half-built, a rifle lying precariously on its side in case shifters were to come about.

The girl was about 16, her brown hair was a tad long, resting on her chest. A black beanie was on her head, and she wore a parka, her hands shoved in her pockets and shivers running down her spine as the wind brushed against her with the desire to seep through.

"Chloe, I can't believe that you managed to drag me out here," her father spoke, laughter lining his voice and the smile on his face that caused wrinkles to appear at the corners of his eyes.

"I mean, why not? It's nice out, and I'm sure that the shifters won't come out at this time of year," Chloe shrugged, the smile on her face only continuing to grow the more that she spoke, as it was growing harder and harder to maintain.

The man only shook his head at his daughter, and the two spent the rest of daylight talking over the fire. As soon as the moon was in the sky, a gentle light illuminating the area, the two retreated into the tent they had finally finished building, each in their separate sleeping bags.

At last, the night was still. The fire had long since died, the only reminder that there had ever been one was the remaining wood, charred black, as well as the ashes that scattered about.

By the edge of the clearing rest several bushed, crowded together and obviously quite the mess. Dead leaves rest on the ground surrounding them, and soon, massive paws took steps down on them, claws piercing the fragile plant, and the leaves crumbling beneath them.

At the lead of the pack was a massive black wolf, grey hairs scattered across his face from age, and patches of skin were scars were plentiful danced across his body. Following behind the wolf were 3 others; a female, as white as the snow beneath her paws, a male, golden brown, and another female. This one held a tawny color, smaller than the three wolves in front of her, and anxiety blending with fear evident in her gaze.

The words slipped into the tawny wolf's mind as if they were her own, however, she knew very well by then that it was the pack-link allowing her to hear the voices of her packmates projected within her head.

" _Maxine, are you alright?_ " the voice whispered within her mind, and she flinched involuntarily, bringing her gaze to the black wolf who had paused in his steps, and glanced back at her, his mouth open ever so slightly and his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted a bit, the air in front of him a cloud of cold air.

The tawny wolf shook out her fur nervously, and proceeded to become as confident as she could, " _I'm fine,_ " she replied, pushing the thoughts towards the Alpha as his gaze lingered for a moment, before he gave a soft grunt and continued in his steps.

The 4 wolves were soon gathered around the tent, being as quiet as possible. It wasn't often that humans dare venture into the forest, and the fact that two happened to be residing in the territory appeared to the pack as a threat. Mark Jefferson - the alpha - decided that a scout would be ideal. They wouldn't attack unless necessary, and at the time it seemed that it wouldn't be.

However, panic settled in the wolves when a light flickered on within the tent, and the silhouettes of the humans within were projected on the fabric of the tent. The man seemed to be staring, and his hands moved to grip something tightly within his hands. He barked a command towards the second human accompanying him, before the tent opened and the man stepped out.

Jefferson's lips pulled back in a snarl as he moved to stand in front of his pack mates, his snarl low and holding an obvious warning. He didn't want to attack unless absolutely needed, and now, it seemed that he might just have to.

William slowly cocked the rifle, the click of him preparing the gun the signal for Jefferson to lunge. As soon as he did, a shot rang throughout the clearing. While the three wolves attacked William, Max herself was completely unsure of what to do. She had been told there might come a time where she would have to fight, but honestly, the tawny shifter thought that time would never come. She couldn't kill a person!

The shifter was frozen on the spot, watching as her parents - the two other wolves who had followed along - went into the tent to grab the second human. She came out on her own, cursing profusely and moving away as fast as she could. However, as luck would have it, she seemed to lose her footing and toppled over. Almost instantly, her three packmates were on top of her.

Max watched as Jefferson's teeth grazed over her arm, the girl flinching backwards. A single bite was all it took to change a human into a shifter... if they were to survive, that is. And he seemed to have the intention of doing this.

However, Max's mind seemed to snap back into focus, and she let out a hesitant snarl of her own, moving to push between Jefferson and the girl, and standing over her protectively. A hostile, annoyed look passed through the alpha's gaze, " _Max, what are doing?_ " he demanded, letting out a growl and moving his head from side to side.

What _was_ she even doing? What was her goal in this situation? She would've moved and given away her uneasy feeling, however, she remembered the girl beneath her by the stench of fear that flooded her senses, and the heavy breathing.

" _Just... Just let her go,_ " she found herself saying as calmly as she could, and she could practically feel the annoyance rolling off of him in waves.

" _Why is that, Max? And don't you dare try to back out on this,_ " he demanded, and Max forced herself to keep her gaze locked with his. She didn't want to face the gazes if her parents, which she felt burning into her.

" _Don't put her through the pain of being a shifter,_ " she pleaded, hoping the alpha would take her words into consideration... though doubt and hesitation seemed to cloud his eyes, and she continued to speak, " _She'll only be an outcast, and you know very well that some of them go insane, rogue."_

He finally took a step back, and closed his eyes tightly. Max could imagine him in his human form, pinching the bridge of his nose as he pondered the situation. However, she expected to be able to get away safely, but his next words betrayed that thought.

" _You can take her back to Arcadia City. However, if you take her, you are not to come back. Or you can leave her here, we can take her back to the pack, and you can stay,_ " he declared, and almost instantly Max's mother held an alarmed look, moving forward as if to confront Jefferson, however, he simply turned his head toward the white wolf and growled a warning.

Dread seemed to fill Max instantly. Though, regret was still non-existent. Despite the fact that she seemed to have made the worst move in her life, she would still do it countless times again. Only because she just couldn't stand around to see a human go through the pain of becoming a shifter.

It started with the sicknesses; the fevers, the flu... then a possible reaction that was similar to silver poisoning. It drove you insane, you wouldn't be able to get a firm grasp on your mind. Next was the uncontrollable shifts, the pain of bones changing, scraping against each other... It was a long, painful process, and despite the fact she didn't know this girl, she didn't want her to go through it.

And Max stood firmly with her thoughts. She finally glanced toward her parents, and the look in their eyes simply disgusted her. She could tell that they just wanted her to leave the girl, come back to the pack and stay safe. But that's not who Max was. She would never be that type of person.

Finally moving off of the girl, the tawny wolf lowered her muzzle and pressed her wet nose to the girl's hand, a silent gesture telling her to stand up. The scent that hit her was immediate; a mixture of the forest, pine trees, flowers. However, the response from her was immediate and the scent was torn away, the human's hand jerked away and she brought herself to her feet. Max caught her gaze moving towards her father's dead body, and guilt settled inside of her. While she didn't do the attacking herself, she was still partially responsible for this due to the fact she just simply let it happen.

Max's ears twitched at the soft growling she heard coming from Jefferson, and moved her eyes to meet his, the annoyance that settled within them blatantly obvious. However, he didn't project anything towards her. The black wolf simply turned around and began to leave the clearing, her parents casting her a final glance before following behind him.

Max watched as her pack mates left, her family, and she felt as if her stomach was twisting and flipping within her. The urge to follow became overwhelming, but no, that would possibly lead to the death of this human. Who - she noted - seemed to be on the verge of tears, and the tawny wolf lifted up her head, tugging at her sleeve of her parka with her teeth. This caused the human to nearly kick her, and the shifter stumbled back, quite a bit alarmed.

"What the fuck do you want?" Chloe spat, the tears that threatened to spill slowly building up in her eyes, a few slipping through the cracks and running down her face.

In any other circumstance, Max would've used this as a time to assume her human counterpart. But she simply nodded towards the woods in the opposite direction of Jefferson and her parents. The human spat a few more venomous words towards the shifter, yet reluctantly followed as Max proceeded to walk away.

The two made their way through the forest in silence, though at first Chloe seemed to want to provoke the shifter, and Max simply tuned out her words, finding the act completely amusing. As soon as they reached the border of the forest and Arcadia City came into view, the wolf stopped in her tracks and gave Chloe a questioning glance. The girl cast her an annoyed look, though beneath it all, Max could see the anguish, the anger, the lust for revenge. But, the wolf simply ignored it, nodding her head in the direction of the city, and the human didn't say another word as she left, pulling up her hood over her head.

And Max swore that she could hear the human sobbing once she turned back into the woods.

Max was well aware the she couldn't return to the pack. By now she would be announced dead. Even though she was still breathing, her heart was still pounding, by doing what she had done she had sentenced her wolf counterpart to death. She was now a rogue, she had no home, and she could never return.

She heard stories from pack mates that there were shifters in the city. And at the moment, she was scouting the outskirts, where the trees began to become far and few in between, and houses came into view. The distant sound of car motors hit her ears, the faint smell of food, smoke, and other mingling scents invaded her nose.

Shifters had their own unique scent. Even if a shifter only walked alongside their wolf counterpart when sent into a forced shift, the scent always remained, and it was only identifiable by other shifters. So when Max caught the faint scent of a shifter, relief flooded her, and the tawny wolf was careful to steer clear of humans as she headed towards the scent.

Luckily, the source of it seemed to come from a house on the outskirts, so she wouldn't have to venture very far into dangerous territory in order to find what she so desired to find.

The house that came into her view was a small one, a single story. The bricks that stood as its foundation were a soft tan, appealing to the eyes. The roof was black underneath the random masses of snow that appeared across it every now and then, and the backyard faced the woods, fenced in quite decently. Perfect. It was well hidden from view, and Max would be able to hide from prying eyes.

The tawny wolf stayed hidden from view up until she reached the wooden fence. It took her a few minutes of trying, but soon she managed to scale the fence, landing quite ungracefully on the ground and giving a slight groan of pain. Despite the fact the scent of fellow shifters emanated from the household, what she was doing was quite risky.

Deciding the best thing to do would be to take on her human counterpart for now, the wolf began to shift. Bones scraped against one another, some seeming to vanish completely while others shrunk or stretched. And soon a girl stood in the place of the wolf.

Max was on her hands and knees, her body fully exposed to the cold air and causing shivers to course through her. Her light brown hair was short, cut unevenly on the ends due to the fact she wasn't able to get it professionally cut like humans were able to. Her ocean blue eyes were shut tightly, and she was struggling to catch her breath, the air in front of her coming out in clouds of white.

After the pain passed over, the girl stumbled towards the door, her feet quickly beginning to become painfully cold as she did so, and began to knock on the sliding glass door as much as she could.

Finally, after a few long, painful moments, the door slid open and a confused girl stood in front of her. Her hair was up in a messy bun, she wore one of those cheesy ugly sweaters that looked as if it was made by her grandmother, and pajama pants hung loosely around her waist. However, despite the fact Max was a total stranger, the other teenager ushered her in.

"Oh, oh my, come in," she seemed to babble, waiting until Max came in. The shifter was well aware that she wasn't wearing anything, and it made her quite nervous and embarrassed, but was thankful when the teenager passed over a blanket, "I'm Kate," she exclaimed while leaving the room and passing into the kitchen the next room over, seemingly preparing something while looking over to the living room occasionally as if worried Max would drop dead any second.

"Max," the shifter mumbled, pulling the blanket around herself tightly and rubbing it up and down her skin.

"My parents and sisters aren't home right now, they're at the local church helping with a charity, but I'll be sure to text them and tell them what's going on," Kate explained, finishing with the preparation of what seemed to be hot chocolate and moving to the couch and handing it to Max, who took it and gave a small murmur of thanks.

As Max took small sips from the hot liquid, Kate left the room with the intention of finding clothing for Max, and the shifter took this as the opportunity to take things in around her. Next to the sliding glass door from which she entered, the wall was lined with a bookshelves, filled with all sorts of books.

Between the kitchen and the living room rested a fireplace. A few pictures rested on the mantle, and a cross stood in the corner. The rest of the room was barely decorated, though Max could easily take on the homey feeling that it held.

The girl was startled from her thoughts when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and glanced toward Kate. The girl held clothes a bit haphazardly in one hand, and she was texting with the other. Eventually, she sent the phone down and made her way to Max, who took the clothes gratefully and a genuine smile crossed her face, "Thank you, Kate," Max said, though inside she was still finding it quite surprising that the other shifter seemed to be welcoming her so easily.

"So," the girl sat down beside Max as she pulled on the clothes, thankful that they seemed to fit quite well, "What happened? Shouldn't you be with your pack?"

Max bit her lower lip and soon gave a sigh, explaining what happened to Kate, and the other girl listened carefully, nodding every now and then. Though in the end, she seemed quite in awe with Max's decision, but didn't comment.

Later that night, Kate's family returned, and the group questioned Max in a similar way. And in the end, her parents offered hospitality, and she eagerly agreed.

While she wasn't quite used to human customs entirely, in a way, she found it reassuring and quite comfortable. The environment was welcoming compared to the harsh camp of her now previous pack. Though, there was no doubt that she would have to grow used to some things, and she wouldn't mind that.

And over time, Arcadia City would become her home.


	2. Introductions

**A/N: Heyyo! I'm finally back with chapter 1 of this story. I'm sorry for such the long wait. I got sick, writers block, etc. I'm not particularly proud of this chapter and may come back and rewrite it once again, but just to let you guys now, the story will be picking up from here! These first few chapters have just been introducing us to the characters.**

 _The present day_

Over time Max had indeed grown used to living within the human world. Over the next 5 years prior to her being adopted into Kate's family, the family taught her what she needed to know to get through life. Basic english, math, and a few other things. Anything else she happened to learn on her own.

At first, her forced shifts were quite frequent, at least a week between each. However, they began to dwindle to at least once a month. After her four years of learning about human culture, or whatever else she had to learn, the Marsh family surprised her by buying her an apartment in the depths of the city.

She moved in with Kate - who Max now recognized as a sister - and for the next 5 years they worked together to keep the apartment paid for, and cared for. They would visit the other Marsh's every weekend, and the family would take that as their chance to meet with their wolf counterparts and spend the day running through the woods.

However, the peace didn't seem to last as long as Max would've liked. More and more shifter sightings were being reported on the outskirts of the city, and now many citizens were being drafted into Blackwell Academy; a pristine academy run by the Prescotts which dealt with training people how to fight shifters.

At first it seemed that Kate and Max were safe from this, however, their assumptions were wrong as soon as they received a formal letter made out to the both of them, basically commanding that they start attending.

And now, Max was inside a shooting range, leaning against the stone wall behind her. She was currently watching the instructor, a tall man who looked to be of middle age. Goggles rested on his face, and really one of the main things that stood out about him was the mustache that rested on his upper lip. He held a gun in one hand, taking aim at a target that rested at the other side of the room.

A gunshot rang throughout the room, the echo bouncing off the walls followed by the sound of something hitting the ground and rolling; the shell of a bullet. This was soon followed by a thump as the weapon was set down on a table beside him.

The man turned around and crossed his arms, his gaze quite intimidating as he looked at all the students lined up against the wall, watching him - some gazes were nervous, others were confident, and some gazes were focused elsewhere.

"By the end of this quarter you will be taught gun safety, the different functions on a gun, and other topics. Next quarter you will put these skills to the test in our shooting range here, and then the real training will begin."

He was pacing in front of the students as he spoke, his hands having moved from his chest to behind his back, his fingers intertwining and his hands overall folding together, "By the end of your time here at Blackwell Academy, some of you will have dropped out, others may have been injured and - though rare - some may even die, and even then, a few of you will make it through our rigorous training. And you will rightfully learn how to fight the beasts that threaten our city."

He opened his mouth to continue speaking after observing the faces of the students, however, he was drowned out by the sound of the door swinging open and hitting the wall, and a girl walking in.

She was breathing heavily, her face flushed, and she looked as if she was obviously trying to catch her breath. Atop her head rested a dark blue beanie that looked as if it were about to topple off. Underneath was a disheveled nest of bright blue hair, cut quite short. Her face was tinted a light pink, and it didn't take too long for the strong, smoky smell to hit Max, causing her face to contort to one of faint disgust.

"Chloe, you're late," the teacher spoke, an odd parent like attitude coming over him. However, the girl in question - Chloe - simply scoffed, and brushed the issue off her shoulder with quite little ease.

"Whatever, Mr. Madsen," she said - quite sarcastically, noted Max - before she began to search for a place among the group of students that were against the wall. The room seemed to stay silent while the girl tried to find her place, and she eventually found a place besides Max.

While the smell of smoke quite disturbed the shifter - and Kate's face seemed to say the same - some other scents found their way to Max. The forest, pine trees, flowers… yet mingled and buried underneath the scent of smoke and a tad bit of alcohol that seemed to find its way in.

Though Max's gaze had found its way back to the teacher, her mind was centered on the girl beside her. The scent was vaguely familiar, but god, where was it from? Frustration seemed to be evident in Max's posture, which had stiffened considerably as she leaned against the wall. Yet, she was driven from her thoughts as Kate brushed her hand on Max's arm, and the brunette looked over at her friend.

" _Are you ok?"_ Kate mouthed, and Max only gave a curt nod.

"Chloe," Mr. Madsen spoke, picking up the gun he had previously set on the table and holding it firmly in his hand, "Since you seem so nonchalant about being late to your first class of the year, why don't you come over here and show the class what you know?"

Max felt the stranger stiffen beside her, however, moments later she only strode confidently to the teacher and took the gun from his hand, "Alright step-ass," she said, and continued to the shooting range.

Mr. Madsen himself looked quite peeved by the response, though he remained silent.

Chloe seemed to take her time examining the gun, before she assumed the shooting position and aimed for the target in which Mr. Madsen was shooting at earlier. A gunshot soon rang throughout the room and a bullet lodged itself near the center of the target that rested on the other side of the room.

The blue-haired girl tossed the gun a bit carelessly onto the table before she turned around to face the wall of students. A smirk seemed to find its way onto her face and she gave quite the dramatic bow.

During this movement, Max kept her gaze on her, the gears working within her head to try and figure out who exactly this person was and why they looked so familiar. She hadn't realized she had been staring until the girl stopped in front of her and cast Max quite the smug look, "What do you want?"

The tone sounded like a playful tease, however, the words struck something within Max, and she fought to keep her composure - though she no doubt looked surprised by the fact she had been noticed.

"N-no, just, wowser. You sure know how to handle a gun," Max said, biting her lower lip a little as a bit of a nervous tick she held, and she crossed an arm over her chest, hugging the other to her side.

The girl was about to respond, however, a sharp ringing cut through the air - the bell, signalling that it was time to transition to the next class. Max took this opportunity to grab Kate's arm and pull her along, ducking her head and turning away from the blue-haired punk.

" _What the fuck do you want?"_

The broken voice she recalled hearing so many years ago replayed within her head, and the images of a girl with blonde-hair in quite the mess played before her eyes. It seemed to finally click. Was that the human that she saved so many years ago?

"Max, I think you're cutting off the blood circulation in my arm," a worried voice rose from Kate behind her as Max continued hurrying down the hallway, and she finally realized her mistakes and an embarrassed feeling budded within her.

Letting go of Kate's arm, Max glanced around nervously before stepping closer to the lockers to avoid the students going down the hallways to their next class.

"Max, are you alright?" the timid girl asked, though Max simply offered a small smile and shook her head. And, in order to avoid any further confrontation, she began to walk away. This would at least silence things until after photography, since Kate had the same class as her still - but her locker was in another area.

Aside from the fact everyone was supposed to learn gun control, and fighting in general, the academy offered additional courses.

In Max's case she would be heading to the photography room next after a stop at her locker, where she would retrieve her journal, textbook, and camera (she didn't want to risk the precious item getting damaged in the training room).

Once she reached her locker, it didn't take long to retrieve her items, and Max went ahead to her next class. When she reached the room, she was aware of the fact that the teacher wasn't currently present. However, the door was wide open and students were filing within, so she decided to take her place.

When she stepped into the room, she began to examine her surroundings with curiosity. It was a decent sized classroom, different photographs hung on the walls, newspaper articles cut out and framed, a TV, teacher's desk… usual classroom stuff, really.

Noticing a desk open in the back of the room, the shifter took no hesitation in hurrying over. Pulling the chair out, she sunk into the seat with a pleasant sigh and placed her items on her desk. _This is my swamp now,_ she thought to herself, a grin daring to show on her lips at the thought of the quite horrid meme that spread across the internet.

It didn't take long for the bell to ring, and Max was quite relieved that her table was empty. She took this as a chance to take in her surroundings. Kate had - in fact - come to class, and was sitting at the table to her right, glancing at Max worriedly before moving her gaze to the windows once she had been found out.

To her left was another table filled with two girls. They seemed to be whispering and giggling every once in awhile. One of the girls had a pixie cut, her hair looking quite unnaturally blonde, while the other had longer, more believable blonde hair. They both wore clothes that looked at if they had just walked right off the catwalk and into the classroom, and Max had to hold back a snort.

She took in the view of another few students before sitting back in her chair and rubbing her eyes, a tired sigh escaping her lips. A few minutes had passed, and the teacher had yet to come into the classroom.

Instead, an older man soon appeared. He wore a gray suit, his head held no hair, and wrinkles that covered his face gave away his age - unless he got those from stress rather than age, really.

"Sorry, class. I understand that this is your first day here, but unfortunately, Mr. Smith won't be here to accompany you," his voice was powerful, though something about it set Max on edge, and it made her squirm uncomfortably in her seat, "He had a… hunting accident this weekend and is currently in critical condition. Until further news if given, this class will become a study period, and I will keep watch. And for those of you who are curious, I am Principle Wells."

Without any further words towards the confused students, Principle Wells sat down behind the desk, and seemed to be getting comfortable. Any conversation that had ceased prior to him talking now continued, a bit louder than before.

 _Wowsers, so much for being able to get ready for action with my camera,_ Max thought to herself, giving a sigh. Her mind began to drift to the blue-haired girl from the previous period… or, really, woman, considering she was probably around the same age as Max, 26 or so.

But… now she knew exactly who this was. The human she'd saved those many years ago… It wasn't exactly the looks that gave her away, no - she looked far different than what Max remembered - but her eyes, her voice… It sent shivers down her spine, memories running through her head.

"...ax..."

The look in her eyes when Max had gone to lead her back to safety, the pure anguish and anger that hid behind them.

"Max?"

The sounds of the girl leaving Max on the edge of the woods, though she could've sworn she heard her starting to sob as she began to melt into the city, and Max retreated-

"Max!"

The sound of Kate whispering quite harshly to her to get her attention finally managed to break the barrier of Max's thoughts, and the woman looked up to meet the other's gaze. Kate had moved closer and was sitting in a chair across from Max. How Max didn't manage to notice that, she wasn't sure.

"Y-yea?" Max replied, quite embarrassed.

"What happened earlier?"

Though Kate could be quite the shy nugget - as Max liked to call her after seeing a Tumblr post that fit her quite well - she could also sometimes be a little intimidating if she wanted to know something. Though it was quite the rare thing to happen, and when it did it caught Max quite off guard.

Max contemplated telling Kate the truth with people so close by, but if anything, she could somehow make it seem like a normal thing… and Kate seemed like she wasn't ready to let Max off the hook so easily.

"It was _her,_ Kate," the brunette responded, her voice coming out a bit harsher than intended, and she gave a bit of a frustrated sigh upon seeing Kate's surprised expression at her tone of voice, "You know…" she urged, hoping to get Kate's memory to click.

The expressions on Kate's face changed slowly, from one of pure confusion, to one of thought, and finally to one of recognition. But she stayed silent.

God, this was quite bad. Really, she just… it wasn't something she could even comprehend. She was stuck in school with a human she saved 10 years ago after being partially responsible for the death of her father. Not only that, it looked like she went total Kylo Ren or some shit.

"I just wanna get through the day. Short classes because it's all just introductions, and then go to the apartment and crash…" she complained, the brunette putting her head on the table and letting out a groan of frustration.

The next class would be a switch to fight class. While the first half of the day was dedicated to gun control/training, and the elective of your choice, the second half was physical work, lunch, and then - finally - freedom.

She heard Kate let out the smallest of giggles at Max's reaction, and the brunette lifted her gaze and quirked a brow. Kate was normally very shy, quiet, and kept to herself - especially out in public like this - but in private, even she could be a little outgoing. Though to see Kate even a little bubbly out in public was quite amusing.

Max flipped the girl off with a teasing grin on her face before placing her head back down on the table, "Man, I hate school. It sucks. I just want to sleep for 40 years, to be completely honest," the shifter complained.

However, Kate simply ignored her in a way that told Max she wasn't going to really deal with her complaining. Not in a rude way, but yea, Max had been complaining a lot more since they were told they would be going to Blackwell Academy.

For the next half-hour or so, small-talk did manage to continue until the bell rang, and Max stood up from her seat. She watched Kate retreat to go get her own things as Max began to pack her stuff quickly. The Blackwell Dojo - as Max liked to call it - was in another building entirely, and it was going to take a few minutes to get there, and she didn't want to be late on the first day.

As soon as the two were out of the classroom, they made their way through the sea of students and out onto the campus grounds. A comfortable silence was between the two as they walked to their destination, however, that soon broke when Max spotted the blue-haired Kylo Ren from earlier.

"Oh, Dog," Max grumbled to herself, quite uneasy.

She hesitated in her movements for a moment, causing Kate to glance back a bit worriedly, before Max quickly moved to catch up. The doors to what looked like a massive gym were propped open, and the scents of all the students that were mingling within made her a tad dizzy.

While she had gotten used to living in huge populations, she couldn't really help it. Sometimes these things were a little overwhelming.

Max was a bit surprised to see Mr. Madsen pacing around the center of the gym with a clipboard in hand. She didn't really expect to have him as the same teacher for this class, but in a way, it kinda relieved her of anxiety.

At least she would only have to get to really know two teachers throughout her time here… Whenever that replacement one came for photography, anyway.

Noticing that the crowd of people were either hovering around the front of the bleachers talking, or sitting amongst them, Max set her backpack against the wall alongside the mass of others. She was thankful that Kate was sticking near, so at least she wouldn't be alone with somebody she didn't know, and she began to make her way towards the bleachers.

Climbing up the metal steps until she reached the row just before the very top, Max sat down on the edge, and Kate sat down across the steps on the other side.

The brunette simply began to examine the bustle of students below. At times like these, she was simply spaced out, wondering what exactly had been happening these past few years. She'd gone from living the life of a wolf, to that of a semi-normal human… minus the forced shifts that came on occasion when she wasn't able to make it back to Kate's parents' house for the weekends.

What snapped her out of attention was a high-pitched noises of a whistle, causing Max to flinch somewhat in surprise.

"Alright class!" Madsen snapped, raising his voice to catch the attention of the horde of students talking in front of the bleachers, "take your seats within the bleachers. I'm going to be partnering up each of you with another student in this class, and continue on from there."

He didn't continue speaking until everyone was seated and at least a little bit quiet, to which he finally raised his clipboard, cleared his throat, and began to read off names.

About 99% of the names Max didn't recognize, until Kate's name came up. She was paired with somebody named Victoria Chase, and Max didn't bother scanning the crowd to look for who this Chase person was, because she knew her name was coming up next.

"Max Marsh* will be paired this year with… Chloe Price," the way he spoke the girl's name set Max on edge for a moment, and she didn't know why until a blue-haired woman stood up and pulled a beanie onto her head proudly. Great! Just when she thought she might somehow be rid of this walking memory!

Max watched nervously as Chloe came sauntering up the steps, and once the other woman caught notice of Max's staring, she only wiggled her eyebrows, causing Max to snap her gaze away and turn a bright red shade.

In the end, that didn't help either, since Chloe decided to sit down in Max's view and flash her quite the bold grin.

"Y'know, I have quite the hella good gaydar built inside me, and right now, it's off the rocker. Good thing you're paired with me," her grin only continued to grow, and Max continued to only give her a shocked look.

"Are you cereal right now?" Max asked, her stunned look mixed with complete confusion and even a bit of repulsion when she recalled the disgusting scent that lingered around her, "oh my Dog, don't hit on me," she stated, turning away in quite the mess and looking back down at Mr. Madsen.

Was this chick she literally just met hitting on her? Maybe she just didn't have any filter, liked to start up trouble, all that jazz...

If anything, god, she knew this was going to be one hell of an adventure.

 ***since she was adopted into Kate's family she will have Kate's last name**


End file.
